


Dead Hour

by Ischa



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Community: zombie_fic_athon, Dark, Disturbing Themes, M/M, Sexual Content, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 07:04:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ischa/pseuds/Ischa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cleaning up after the Apocalypse. </p><p> <i>He threw the butt over the edge of the rooftop and Dick watched it until it got swallowed by the darkness. “I'm a walking corpse too.”</i><br/><i>Dick turned to look at him. “You're not. You're a fucking miracle,” Dick said.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead Hour

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the zombie-ficathon and that's why it's obviously a zombie-fic. Feel warned.  
> Beta by Icalynn.

_“Don't you get it? They're zombies,” Jason said, shoving him aside as he fired again._

_Dick hit the wall hard and groaned. “They're people who need help.”_

_Jason sighed, looking at him. “You need help. B needs help, hell even the replacement needs help, because you can’t get it into your heads that the only way to help these 'people',” he made finger-quotes in the air to emphasis his point, “Is to end their misery.”_

_“The JL is working on a cure,” Dick replied, rubbing his shoulder. Fuck, but Jason had strength. Dick remembered the times he could shove Jason around. But that was of course before Jason had come back from the dead._

_“Of course they are. In the meantime people are getting infected and dying, because you refuse to kill,” Jason said._

_And Dick wouldn't. He was glad Jason had come to his rescue, for he would not take that step, and cross that line. Because there was still hope.  
“We didn't give up on you,” Dick whispered, but Jason heard him anyway. He turned around lightning fast and pressed the gun to Dick's jaw._

_“And look what that got you?” he hissed._

_Dick closed his eyes, but Jason didn't pull the trigger._

 

 **~one~**  
The city was a mess. There were rotting corpses everywhere. The police didn't have enough man power to clean the streets. And Batman was busy working with the JL on god only knew what. No one wanted a repetition of the last few months.  
Dick sighed as he leaned his head against the wall. At night, from above it didn't look so bad, he thought. Which was such a mind-fuck. Gotham used to look, _be_ , worse at night.  
The light sound of something hitting the ground close by made Dick's eyes snap into that direction.

“Too much to deal with?” Jason asked. He lit a cigarette and Dick's fingers suddenly itched for one too. He grabbed it before Jason could even finish his first drag.  
Dick inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.  
“What would daddy say to that?” Jason mocked. But it lacked his usual venom. He was as fucked up by what a lot of people called the Apocalypse, as the rest of humanity. 

“Don't really care,” Dick replied and took another drag. Bruce had closed himself off. Again. Dick was tired of having to deal with all this bullshit from Bruce. Sometimes it seemed to him that Bruce cared about everyone the same, which what the fuck? They were his kids, maybe not by blood… He took another drag and then handed the smoke over to Jason. 

“Seems that way,” Jason said, inhaling deeply. 

Dick should maybe ask what Jason was doing here, but he was probably doing what Dick was doing. Getting away from the carnage.  
“Sometimes I want to quit this all and be-”

“An accountant?” Jason interrupted. 

Dick laughed. It sounded a bit painful even to his own ears. He couldn’t remember when he had laughed. It must have been fucking months, but it felt like years. “Maybe.”

“You never talked about quitting before,” Jason said. 

“I quit being Batman's sidekick.”

“I know. That's how I got the job,” Jason replied, finishing his smoke. He threw the butt over the edge of the rooftop and Dick watched it until it got swallowed by the darkness. “I'm a walking corpse too.” 

Dick turned to look at him. “You're not. You're a fucking miracle,” Dick said. 

Jason laughed. “In a mirror world maybe, Dick. Don't get confused here just because I saved your life.” 

“And Tim's,” Dick said. And Jason hated Tim. Or at least he always said he hated Tim. 

“The replacement? Must have been an accident,” Jason replied, waving it way. 

Dick knew it hadn’t been an accident. Tim told him everything. Jason saved his life. He killed five infected people (Dick still couldn’t call them zombies) to get to Tim, risking his own life in the process.  
“Be it as it may. Thanks,” Dick said, because he was grateful that Jason still cared enough for, well, not them, but him, probably. 

“Whatever,” Jason replied. He sounded grumpy again. On the verge of doing something stupid. 

“Going down there again?” Dick asked. 

“Someone has to keep the scum in check. B is being...busy,” Jason shrugged. 

“Yeah,” Dick said. That was one way to call it. 

“Wanna come with?” 

“Be your Robin?” Dick teased. 

Jason gave him a look he couldn’t quite figure out and then jumped.  
Dick followed. 

 

 **~two~**  
Dick stripped his soiled clothes and let them fall to the floor of the manor. His own apartment had been overrun, at least the one he kept in Gotham. The manor was a rock, it would probably still be here when they were all ashes and dust. 

“Bad night?” Tim asked from the shadows of Dick's room. 

“Aren't they all, lately?” There was just so much death on the streets. Authorities were still hunting down the infected – the lost causes, where the cure wouldn’t take – to round them up and...well, do what needed to be done so this wouldn't happen again. Dick chose not to think about it too closely. 

“They are,” Tim answered. 

He looked at least ten years older now than he did only seven months ago. Seven months of hell could do that to a person. It was really a freaking wonder they were still all alive and mostly sane.  
Dick didn’t even wonder why Tim was here. Bruce was...only Bruce and maybe Superman knew that. Tim couldn’t face the night alone. Not any-more. Not since...well, the zombies overran their city and half of the East coast. It was okay, Tim was okay when he was out there being Robin, but when he was only Tim again, the things he's seen were haunting him. 

“Give me a few minutes,” Dick said. He didn’t switch the light on as he made his way to the bathroom. Tim didn't follow. 

~+~  
Dick let the warm water run down his body and tried to forget the horrors of the night. It had been better with Jason there. He was lucky and he knew it. He was alive, he never had been infected, they had a home, they had warm running water, they had Alfred and each other. They had lost less than other people in the city, but only because Bruce was as paranoid as they come and had a containment plan for everything. Even the freaking Zombie- Apocalypse, it seemed.  
Still, he thought bitterly, Bruce should be here now and not...wherever he was. Dick wasn't sure if he should be honoured that Bruce trusted them with his city or pissed off that he was gone when they needed him. Not the city, but them.  
He switched off the water, towelled his hair semi-dry and put some nightclothes on. 

It was hot in the manor, it was hot in the city and it smelled rotten. Dick couldn't shake the memory of the stench. It was the worst thing.  
He crossed over to the bed where Tim was already lying on his side, no doubt staring at the ceiling, and laid down.  
He heard Tim take a shuddering breath and he wanted to tell him it would be okay again, but he's said that so many times before already and it seemed like the next horrible thing was just waiting around the corner. He grabbed Tim instead and pulled him close against his body. Maybe he needed to feel another person's breath and heartbeat too.  
Tim grabbed at his t-shirt and buried his face in Dick's collarbone.  
Dick held on tighter. 

~+~  
Tim wasn't there when he woke up, but he didn't think that Tim would be. Tim didn’t like to be reminded that he just couldn’t handle this. That was probably one reason why they never talked when Dick got into bed, or when Tim slid under the covers.  
Dick stretched, feeling his muscles protest a bit. 

“Master Richard,” Alfred said from the door. Alfred was pretty much the only person who could sneak up on any of them – even Bruce. 

“Alfred,” Dick said, turning to smile at him. “Time to get up, I guess?” 

“There is nothing that needs your immediate attention,” Alfred answered. 

Yeah, Dick thought because most of the people they are hunting down are dead already without really knowing it, or caring for it, for that matter. No one left to save – except the living. But there weren't that many left in the city. Dick couldn't blame them for leaving. If he were someone else he would've left too.  
“But breakfast is ready?”

“Of course, Master Richard.” 

Dick nodded. “I'll be down in a few.” 

“Please take your time,” Alfred replied and left. 

Dick turned his head into the pillow, inhaling Tim's all too familiar scent. And then got up.  
Another day to start, another night of horrors. 

 

 **~three~**  
“It used to be simpler when I was Robin,” Dick said, inhaling smoke. 

“You think?” Jason asked. He held his hand out and Dick handed the cigarette over to him again. They were sharing, because Dick didn't have his own smokes and he didn't have a place to store them either. His suit wasn't made that way. He never had need for it before either. 

“We only had the crime syndicates and the usual suspects. I never thought once I couldn't do this any more when I was wearing the red, green, and yellow.” 

“It got worse when you left. Everything just got worse,” Jason said. 

Dick looked at him them. He wondered if Jason meant Bruce, but then he couldn't have known how Bruce had been with Dick.  
“Tim...” Dick started and waited if Jason would interrupt, or leave, or put a gun to his head again, but Jason just nodded. 

“He can't handle this,” Jason said. 

“He's fine when he's Robin.” 

“We all were fine when we were Robin, Dick,” Jason replied. “Or we thought we were, because that was what he needed from us.” 

“Maybe,” Dick admitted. 

“Robin was, Robin is, fearless because Batman is, Dick. The boy in the suit, the boy should be fucking terrified.” 

“He's sixteen,” Dick said. 

“That doesn't make him an adult, neither do the 150 ways in which he can kill a person, Dick. You know that.”

Dick nodded again. Jason handed over the rest of the cigarette. Dick inhaled deeply and held it in too long, until his lunges screamed and then he let it out slowly. As he opened his eyes, he caught a glimpse of something on Jason’s face. Something like admiration, but deeper maybe. He threw the butt over the rooftop railing. Jason started running.  
Dick followed without missing a beat. 

~+~  
It was strange to be this carefree with Jason. Jason who wanted to kill Bruce, Jason who hated Tim, Jason who...had only been a boy when he was beaten to death. Jason who Batman never loved more than when he wasn't there.  
Jason who was a great fucking partner in crime. 

~+~  
They landed in an alley and looked around. Infra-red vision on, because even the infected had a higher body temperature than the dead. They could look dead, unmoving, unblinking, not breathing, but the infra-red gave them away.  
Dick couldn’t deal with the lost causes. Jason just put a bullet in their heads. Dick knew it was kinder than letting the authorities handle these things. 

“They aren't human beings anymore, Dick,” Jason said as Dick turned away from the three bodies lying on the ground now. “They were too far gone already, and do you even know how the authorities handle this?” He asked. 

Dick shook his head. He didn't. He didn't want to. “Come on,” he said and Jason put the gun away. 

He stood there looking at Dick, searching him. Dick wanted to turn away and find the next few damned souls already. The more they found the faster the streets would be safe again. The faster they could put this behind them.  
Jason grabbed his wrist and yanked hard unexpectedly. Dick fell against Jason's body. He felt warm, and he wrapped his arms around Dick to hold him in a tight grip. The first instinct was to struggle, but then he just sagged against Jason's bigger frame and let out a sigh. 

“When was the last time someone fucking touched you?” Jason asked. His voice sounded angry in Dick's ears. But then Jason was always angry. 

“Don't know,” Dick admitted, because when Tim was clinging to him during the long hours of their sleep, it wasn't for Dick's comfort, it was for Tim's. Dick didn't begrudge him that, it was all he could give right now. It was all Tim would take. 

Jason swore under his breath and Dick pressed closer still. Jason was a solid wall of human warmth and flesh and Dick wanted to curl up with him in a bed and... “Come home to us tonight,” he said before he could think about it. 

Jason laughed and let go of him. “You're losing your fucking mind.” 

“He isn't there,” Dick said, not looking at Jason retreating again. 

“I know that,” Jason hissed. 

There was something he should say, he thought, or something he should do, but then another nightmare moved in the dark and Jason pushed him away, the gun in his hand and already aiming. 

~+~  
Dick felt sick to his stomach when he made it home to the manor. So much death. Everywhere and here, here it was like nothing at all had happened. The manor looked peaceful and normal. It didn't even smell rotten. The City's stench couldn’t reach them here. 

He drew the curtains and curled up on the bed, trying to keep the nausea at bay. The picture of the dead little girl was haunting him. The bullet-wound in her forehead like a twisted kind of goodnight kiss and Jason’s grim and determined face. Jason always did what needed to be done.  
He took a deep breath and then another one. And he felt himself come apart at the seams. He felt angry and helpless and he wanted to lash out, but he had to be strong, had to be sane for them. Because Bruce wasn't fucking here, and there was only so much Alfred could take on these days. 

The soft thump of feet on the hardwood floor alerted him to a presence in the room. The sound was coming from the window, but by the time he got himself together he was already pinned to the bed.

“You're a mess,” Jason said. 

Dick could feel his breath on his own lips. He was a mess. “You're here,” he replied. “Why are you here?” 

Jason sat up, staring at him in the dark. Dick could feel his gaze, burning. Jason's fingers were curled around his wrists and he was sitting on Dick's stomach like when he was a kid and got lucky during training. He didn’t get lucky now. He knew what he was doing and he was stronger than Dick, bigger too. Jason could take him – and take him apart. Dick had no illusions about that, at least now, Jason could do it when he was mostly sane.  
“You need someone to put you back together,” Jason answered. His voice was hard and harsh and felt like a whip against Dick's skin. 

“I'm fine,” Dick protested, but it was only a token of a protest at best. He wasn't fine. And Jason knew it. He was barely holding it together. But for how long? 

Jason laughed and it wasn't a pleasant sound at all. “I will take you apart and I will put you back together again, Dick,” he said. 

Dick tried to suppress a shiver. There had been things he had always wanted, but never took, because that wasn't...because of Bruce he realized. It was probably the same reason why Jason never made a move either. Or Tim.  
“Jason-”

“And I won't be nice about it. I won't hold you afterwards and I won't kiss you either. And you won't touch me, understood?” 

Dick swallowed. It was a question. He could say no and Jason would leave. Because Jason was a lot of things, but not a rapist. “I-”

“I will use lube,” he smirked. 

Dick nodded. 

~+~  
It was hard not being able to touch him, run his hands over all that smooth skin, to kiss, to mouth at a shoulder.  
But Dick kept his hands away from Jason. Kept them firmly curled around the headboard and in this position, on his hands and knees, he couldn’t have kissed Jason that easily either. He bit the pillow to keep words inside and let Jason fuck him hard and slow. By the time Jason reached for Dick's cock, Dick was ready to beg, to give up, give in, but it was so good. It felt so good to only feel sweat and heat and pleasure cursing through his veins. A burning pleasure that left nothing in its wake but ash.  
They tumbled onto the covers, but Jason rolled away immediately. So they wouldn't touch. Dick's fingers ached to touch him, pull him close, but he didn't. 

Jason got up and started to put on clothes. Dick closed his eyes. He was tired. “Thank you,” he whispered and Jason laughed again. It sounded different this time, but not less harsh. 

“See you around,” Jason said and Dick nodded with his eyes still closed. 

Tim would be here soon. He needed to shower and change, but he was just too tired and kind of happy. He fell asleep between one breath and the next. 

 

 **~four~**  
Jason broke some asshole's nose who tried to steal the antidote and Dick just let him. Let him kick the shit out of that asshole too. He had seen too many children die these past few months. He slightly wondered if the numbness would disappear once the city was back to normal. Whatever that meant in the case of Gotham. 

Jason looked at him. “You look dead,” he said, kicking the guy once more just because, Dick knew. 

“I just can't-” he ran a hand over his face and then looked up at the dark sky above them. 

Jason grabbed him and pressed him against the wall. It was safe to do that here, because the asshole was unconscious. But not dead. He would probably wish for it once he woke up. One could only hope.  
“Maybe I was wrong,” Jason mused, grinding against him. Dick put his hands to the wall, splaying his fingers against the rough stone. “Maybe you don't need a hard fuck after all-”

“Shut up,” Dick hissed. “Shut up.” He closed his eyes again, but the images of the dead children wouldn't leave his head and what if Damian had been one of them? Hadn't Dick failed Bruce's son more than once? Wasn't it enough already? And Tim? 

“Make me,” Jason hissed back. 

Dick shoved him to his knees and Jason took the hint. 

~+~  
“Time to kill some zombies,” the man said and Dick threw a stick at him to make him fall. 

“What the fuck?” He yelled. 

Dick was down in the alley a second later. The infected weren't too far gone. Dick thought that they could be saved with proper treatment and the authorities had it now.  
“They're people and you will leave them the hell alone!” he said hard. 

“They're infected and they’re practically dead anyway,” the man replied, but Dick knew that kind: he was relishing in the gore, the violence, and the fact that after no one would look at him twice, because he was only fighting for his life. Yeah, right, Dick thought and broke that asshole's hand on principal.  
He called Gordon and a few other people he trusted to get those people to a hospital and called it a fucking night.  
On some nights he felt himself fray more than on others, this was one of those nights. 

~+~  
“You look awful,” Tim said from the dark. 

He hadn't been in Dick's room the last few nights. “It was a horrible night,” Dick replied, stripping his suit. 

Tim switched the light on. It blinded him for a few seconds, he was so used to the darkness by now.  
“Dick,” Tim said in a harsh whisper. 

Dick didn't know how to answer him, so he shrugged. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. He missed the more tender parts of having sex, but what he and Jason did could only be described as fucking. “I’m going to shower. Are you staying?”

“Yes,” Tim answered and Dick was surprised at the relief he felt hearing that. 

When he came back to the bedroom Tim was already lying in bed. He wasn’t starring at the ceiling like he usually did. Dick could feel his gaze on him all the way to the bed. And even as he settled down next to Tim. Tim was thinking, probably about how to tactfully ask about the clusterfuck that was Dick’s life.  
Dick turned to him, to watch his face in the dark. They all could see well in the darkness. Sometimes it wasn’t a blessing at all. 

“He’s hurting you,” Tim said. “I’ve seen…the way he-“

“Fucks me?” Dick supplied. 

Tim exhaled harshly. “Yes.” 

Dick wasn’t surprised Tim knew, or that he’d seen it. Tim still had great stealth abilities. It was a freaking gift.  
“It helps.”

“I didn’t think you were the type-“

“Tim,” Dick interrupted again. “Think about it? Babs, Huntress, Kory? They could’ve all kicked my ass.” He liked it when they took charge, liked it when they held him down. In hindsight he did have a type after all. 

“Okay, yes, but they loved you too. I’ve seen how they were with you. And Jason isn’t. He’s never tender. Never gives you everything you need,” Tim bit his lip. 

Oh, Dick thought. “You don’t have to make up for what he’s lacking,” Dick said softly. 

“You’re fraying and I didn’t know how to help you, but Jason did and he does help you, but-”

“He’s holding back, because that’s who he is,” Dick said softly. 

“But you need to be close to someone, emotionally and…you like _cuddling_ and stuff,” Tim empathised. 

“You aren’t-“

“Dick,” Tim cut in sharply. “I would do anything for you.” He grabbed Dick by his hips and pulled him closer, or pushed himself closer, same difference, Dick thought. And then Tim kissed him, slow and tender and Dick couldn’t help the moan, and returning the kiss the same way. This was what he missed with Jason. The closeness afterwards, the warmth of skin against his own when the heat and passion of sex was slowly ebbing away. 

“Tim-”

“Shut up,” Tim said. “I want this.” 

There was a slight emphasis on this, like Tim wasn’t sure he wanted more or could handle more, but this was okay, this was something he wanted, and wanted to give.  
And Dick shut up and let Tim kiss and pet him and snuggle close until they fell asleep between kisses and soft gasps. 

~+~  
Tim was still there the next day. The heavy curtains were drawn, but Dick could see a sliver of light creping over the hardwood floor. 

Tim blinked himself awake and Dick just looked at him. Watched him for any signs of a freak-out. There were none.  
“I’m fine, how are you?” Tim asked gently. 

“Better,” Dick replied and it wasn’t a lie. He felt better. He felt like he could go out there again and deal until all of this was done. Until Bruce came back. Maybe. 

“Good,” Tim said, stretching. 

Dick wanted to feel all that glorious skin against his again. “Tim?” 

“Hmm?” Tim hummed. 

“How long?” He asked and hoped it was vague enough for Tim to not feel like he had to answer. 

Tim closed his eyes. “Pretty much forever. I guess. But I’m not sure if it wasn’t about Jason too, at some point.” He opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look at Dick. “You have been my hero since the first time I saw you fly.”

Dick’s been blind, but then he had had other things to think about. He had had a girlfriend. Tim didn’t make it obvious. Jason, god Jason, didn’t either. But he probably had a crush on Dick since forever too. And then he died.  
Funny how the freaking zombie-apocalypse could open your eyes. He leaned over and kissed Tim’s forehead gently. “Go shower, Alfred will be here any minute.” 

“He knows I’m not sleeping in my bed. I am sure,” Tim replied, but he got up. 

Dick watched him disappear into the bathroom and just breathed. Unsurprisingly it was a lot easier. 

 

 **~five~**  
“The zombies are fewer now,” Jason said, lighting a cigarette. He took a drag and handed it over to him. Dick nodded his thanks. He still wasn’t a smoker, but with Jason it seemed like the thing to do. Smoking and hard, furious fucking was what they did, between hunting criminals and talking/not talking. 

“Don’t call them that,” Dick replied reflexively. He called them ‘zombies’ in his head now too, but not out loud. 

“You are so soft-hearted Dickie,” Jason mocked. 

“That’s why you love me,” Dick replied a bit too sharply. It just slipped out. He hadn’t meant to call Jason on his _feelings_ for fuck’s sake. 

Jason took another drag of his smoke. Dick waited or not waited. For something. “Soon they will all be gone. The city clean – or whatever – once more. Crisis averted. Business as usual.” 

“And what about you?” Dick asked. 

“Could ask the same of you,” Jason answered. 

Dick didn’t know. He hadn’t thought about it. He should go back to New York. That was his home now- not Gotham.  
“Don’t know yet. Bruce isn’t back and Damian-”

“Is with his mother,” Jason interrupted. 

Which was true. Right now he was, but he could never stay with her for long. Damian would be back and Bruce would be back…sometime. Soon or not.  
“Tim-”

“Ah,” Jason said. “That is the real deal here. The Replacement.” 

“Don’t call him that,” Dick replied. 

“He has a soft spot for you,” Jason said. There was an unspoken ‘too’ at the end of the sentence. 

“I know. He shows it, Jason.” Dick turned to look at him. 

“You think I’m fucking you for the greater good?” Jason asked harshly. 

Maybe, Dick thought. He didn’t know. You could never fucking know anymore with Jason. He was a wild-card if Dick’s ever seen one.  
“No,” he answered eventually. “You don’t. You do it for yourself.” 

Jason nodded and threw the butt of his cigarette over the railing of the rooftop. It looked strangely graceful. They stood there for another few minutes in silence until duty called again. 

This time Dick jumped first.


End file.
